The Story
Cavalry FC — 3rd place, 42 points
Record (W-D-L): 11-9-8
Goals For/Against: 47/36
Top Scorer: Ali Musse (9)
Assists Leader: Ali Musse (7)
Once again, Cavalry are back in the playoffs - they’ve reached the postseason in each of their seven seasons as a club, and have never finished below third place.
For the first time, though, they’ll enter the postseason as defending North Star Cup champions, as they won their first playoff crown in 2024, doing so with a memorable 2-1 win over Forge at ATCO Field. They’ll be unable to win again at home in 2025, as their league positioning means they’ll be unable to host the final (should they reach that far), but they’ll still feel they’ve got every chance of defending their title - even if they know that their journey towards repeating isn’t quite as straightforward as hoped.
After finishing in the top two in two straight seasons, Cavalry regressed slightly in 2025, going from 48 points to 42 (after going from 55 to 48 the year before), but still remained tough to beat - they had a record of 5W-5D-6L against their fellow playoff teams.
Ultimately, the story of their season was their lack of consistency - they won two or more games in a row just twice, although they lost two in a row just once - something they’d love to change in the playoffs, especially after finishing the year with three straight draws, narrowly holding onto this third-place spot despite dropping key points in those last few games.
The Stats
36 goals conceded
Typically, the hallmark of a strong Cavalry team? Strong defensive numbers, which is why they’ll be concerned with the fact that they conceded 36 goals in 2025, which is the second-most among playoff teams and the joint-most they’ve ever conceded in a campaign. Interestingly, the other year they conceded 36 goals? It came in 2022, when they finished third and then immediately fell to Forge in the playoffs - they wouldn’t see Forge right away this time around, but they’d love to avoid a similarly early playoff exit.
15 away points
As usual, Cavalry have been quite good at home this year - they’ve picked up a solid 27 points in 14 home games. Where they’ve struggled, however, is on the road, as they’ve won just three times and picked up only 15 points - both figures are the lowest-ever they’ve had in a full season. When seeing their path towards the North Star Cup, which would see them need to beat Forge and Atlético Ottawa, both on the road, they’ll want to change that away form, quickly, as their title defence quite literally would require them to do that.
For what it’s worth, Cavalry haven’t lost a lot on the road - they’ve got just three losses all year away from home - something that bodes well for them in the playoffs, although historically, their penalty shootout record leaves a lot to be desired.
0W-2D-8L vs. 11W-5D-0L
For context, the numbers on the left are Cavalry’s record when they conceded first this season, compared to when they scored first on the right - they’ve essentially been two different teams in those two scenarios. Because of that, they must start games strong in the playoffs - and even then, that might not be enough, as they drew each of their last three games despite scoring first, giving an idea of where their defensive struggles have hurt them lately.
The Stars
Daan Klomp, Defender
With Cavalry’s defensive concerns, they’ll lean heavily on the former CPL MVP and two-time Defender of the Year, who only returned to the club halfway through the season after leaving for a new adventure last winter.
After playing a big role in last year’s North Star Cup, look for him to step up big defensively - and don’t discount his offensive impact, either, as he scored twice in just 10 appearances after his midseason return.
Ali Musse, Winger
As Musse goes, so does Cavalry, so they’ll hope he’s got a lot more goals and assists in store these playoffs, after an impressive nine-goal and seven-assist campaign, with his goals and goals+assists numbers setting career-highs, and his assist tally also tying a career-best.
After scoring two goals and adding three assists in his last six games before the playoffs, he enters this postseason in good form - now, he’ll hope to keep that momentum going.
Tobias Warschewski, Forward
After a massive 2024 campaign, one in which he scored 14 regular-season goals and two playoff markers en route to the North Star Cup, Warschewski hasn’t quite filled the net in the same way in 2025, although eight goals and five assists is still a very good return for an attacker.
Plus, when seeing the way he stepped up for Cavalry in the playoffs last year, scoring in each of their playoff games, that’s encouraging to see ahead of the postseason. Warschewski seems to love these big games - he also scored vs. Liga MX side Pumas UNAM in the Concacaf Champions Cup earlier this year - which bodes well for a Cavalry side that will need the best out of their striker to make another big playoff run.
The Soundbites
“Momentum is key - momentum is absolutely important. We're focused on doing it one game at a time. It has been maybe a little bit more up and down (this year), but that’s all just steps in this journey. Reflecting as someone who's been here since day one, but also been through these last couple of seasons where we've been competing for trophies and winning trophies, it’s the same mentality.” – Cavalry FC goalkeeper and captain, Marco Carducci.
“Well, listen, (as the third place team), we’re the third favourite, right? That's the way it is. But honestly, all scores are set at zero (...) Now, it's about knowing that if you win, you advance. It's a new cup competition, as we've seen with Vancouver FC (in the Canadian Championship), of the five games that they played (to reach the final), two of them they won on penalties and one in regular time, so it doesn't matter how you get there, it's just about getting there and winning the game ahead of you.” – Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
The Scenario
At the end of the day, while Cavalry aren’t necessarily where they want to be in the table, they still enter the playoffs with plenty of confidence - they’re the defending North Star Cup winners, after all, and that’s something they don’t want to forget. Ultimately, they’ve got a target on their back, and that’s something they’ll relish carrying.
Therefore, while their journey towards another North Star Cup is far from easy, they’ll look to take things one game at a time. They’ll feel like they have an advantage in the Semifinal Qualifier vs. York United, given that they’re at home against a team coming off an emotional win and a long travel week.
From there, they’ll feel like they have what it takes to head out on the road for the Contender Semifinal, and then perhaps even the final.
A big catalyst for last year’s North Star Cup win was their road win vs. Forge in the Championship Semifinal, so look for them to channel that game as they get set for what’s ahead.
